Texans OTA report: Battle brews for backup QB job

T.J. Yates is responsible for leading the Texans to their first ever playoff victory in their first ever playoff game. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle)

Kubiak predicted that former Houston Cougar Case Keenum, who spent his rookie season last year on the practice squad, is “going to push” T. J. Yates for the backup quarterback job behind Matt Schaub.

“Everybody’s always competing,” Kubiak said. “Case has obviously made up a bunch of ground from the standpoint of what he knows and what he can handle as a player.”

Regarding the free agent quarterback signee Stephen McGee, Kubiak noted, “This is his first go-round with us. It’s only been a couple days. The one thing about training camp nowadays in the NFL is you practice (only) once a day so there’s a lot of ground that has to be made up in the offseason and that’s what’s going on right now.”

Johnson praises rookie wideout

Asked about the top draft pick Hopkins, Andre Johnson said he was impressed with what he’d seen the last two days, especially with the rookies’ pass-catching acumen.

“He’s caught more balls with one hand than I have since I’ve been here,” Johnson said, laughing. “You can tell he wants to be great. He doesn’t have that ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ look. He’s ready to go and he works hard.”

Harris sits out after collision

There was a briefly scary moment during Tuesday’s OTA when DeAndre Hopkins, catching a pass over the middle, got tangled up with third-year defensive back Brandon Harris. Both went down and Harris stayed down, apparently haven taken a blow to the helmet from the rookie receiver’s knee.

Coach Gary Kubiak called it “a pretty good collision,” saying: “We took Brandon in (to the training room). He’s fine. He’s alert and we’ll see where he’s at. We’re evaluating him right now.”

Hopkins continued to practice but admitted afterwards that he had bruised his knee.

“I don’t know what I hit,” he said. “Hopefully (Harris) is OK.”

Defensive tackle Sunny Harris and tight end Phillip Supernaw suffered foot injuries during the first OTA Monday, Kubiak said, and neither will practice again before next week.

No timetable for Dobbins, Reed

Of the 59 players the Texans have under contract, only linebacker Tim Dobbins and new free safety Ed Reed haven’t yet participated in the first two OTAs. Reed, of course, recently had minor hip surgery, which explains his absence. Kubiak deflected a question about Dobbins, saying only that “Yeah, (OTAs are) voluntary. (Dobbins) isn’t here, but our work has been good.”

Kubiak declined to predict when Reed would be ready to participate in workouts – or games.

“I don’t go off on speculation,” he said. “We know what we know. He had the surgery. Everything went well. He went through the process of staying in Colorado which was part of the deal, part of the rehab process. Now, he’s supposed to be turned loose this week. Everything that we know is on schedule and our expectations are to look at camp at some point and (have him) ready to go at the opening of the season. Other than that, I can’t comment.”